"Alright," the guard said. "I can't see it. Do you have the Specter with you right now?"
Nick lifted the bottle up, showing it to them.
Under normal circumstances, Nick would never show one of Dark Dream's Specters to an outsider.
Sadly, he had to.
All Specters that were brought into the city had to be announced.
Transporting a Specter through the city was always dangerous, and the city wanted to make sure that the Specter was properly suppressed.
"Want to take a closer look?" Nick asked, holding the Spilling Bottle forward.
Nick wasn't afraid that they would steal it.
The two Experts here were from the city itself.
They were not temporary guards who usually worked for Manufacturers.
Even more, doing shady things here would be stupid since there were several more guards close by and since this area was highly surveilled.
The guard just warily looked at the Specter.
Many Specters had crazy and scary powers, and he wasn't about to touch a Specter that he didn't know.
"No, I'm fine," the guard said. "We need your identification and the level of the Specter."
"Nick Nick, Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream," Nick said, "and this thing is an Initial Hatchling Possession Specter."
The other guard snorted in suppressed laughter.
"Oh wow, careful," the other guard said with a sarcastic voice. "Valuable cargo."
The serious guard just nodded at Nick. "You can pass."
"Thanks," Nick said before he passed by them and ran across the bridge.
When he saw the guards on the other side of the bridge, he told them that he would be back soon and that he was only there to get something.
These guards were not employed by the city, and Nick wouldn't tell them about the Specter he had brought with him.
The guards just said that they understood, and Nick quickly went to Dark Dream.
After Nick entered Dark Dream, he quickly went to the second floor and approached the only free Containment Unit on it.
Unsurprisingly, Julian was already waiting in front of it with a friendly smile.
Naturally, he had sensed Nick before he even entered the building.
Nick walked up to Julian and handed him the bottle. "Keep it upright," he said.
Julian took hold of the bottle and looked at it with interest.
"An Initial Hatchling Possession Specter?" Julian asked as he looked at it.
Nick nodded.
"What does it do?" Julian asked.
"It produces infinite amounts of toxic sludge if it is tipped over. This is the Swallowing Swamp, or the reason behind the Swallowing Swamp's existence, depending on your viewpoint."
"Interesting," Julian said as he opened the Containment Unit.
As soon as the Containment Unit opened, several mouths from the hallway slithered into it, plastering themselves all over the walls, ceiling, and floor.
"What kind of matter is the sludge?" Julian asked without looking at Nick.
"Most likely Prephyx Matter," Nick said.
After that, Nick explained to Julian how he had come to the conclusion.
"Good job," Julian said with a smile.
Nick didn't show any reactions.
Ever since Julian had started teaching Nick, he kept using this kind of belittling voice.
It was like Julian was praising a toddler.
Of course, Nick didn't like being addressed like this, but this was the result of his actions.
Nick had chosen this "person" as his superior.
Initially, Nick had no idea why Julian was constantly talking to him like he was a toddler.
He just thought that Julian was an asshole.
However, the more Julian had taught Nick, the more Julian's conduct made sense.
Nick had never highlighted how Julian's manner of speech made him feel, and he didn't plan on telling him.
Even though they were allies, Nick wouldn't hand over all of his secrets and thoughts to Julian.
After about a year of studying under Julian, Nick realized two things, and fortunately, he also realized the value of these two things at basically the same time.
If he hadn't realized the value of these two things, he might have wasted them.
The first thing was that Julian was exceedingly arrogant.
Anyone that he could control was beneath his notice.
He ignored all Newbies, Johns, Veterans, Experts, and even very weak Specialists.
As soon as he could control them, they were no longer in his mind, basically.
All of Julian's attention was on the stronger Specialists and Heroes.
And the second thing that Nick realized was that Julian viewed him as even lower than the people he already ignored.
Due to his conduct, Nick had often appeared quite dumb in the past.
Additionally, Nick even willingly worked under Julian, which was very different from everyone else.
Maybe that made Julian look down on Nick even more.
Lastly, as Nick's teacher, Julian had seen how many basic things he needed to teach Nick.
Just like many other people, Julian was taking Nick's lack of education as a lack of intelligence.
Julian believed that 99% of people were beneath him and that Nick was even beneath these 99% of people.
Because of that, he didn't put a lot of effort into keeping his cards close to his chest in Nick's presence.
He probably wasn't even realizing that he was doing something to Nick that he had never done to anyone else.
He let his mask slip.
Nick was basically the only person Julian could talk to without having to put up a false front.
And maybe that aspect of being able to be whoever he wanted to be made him belittle Nick again and again.
Arrogance, conceit, disgust, deceit, aloofness, pride, boundless confidence, disregard, unending ambition, greed.
This was Julian's true self.
The true self of a Specter.
And when he was with Nick, he didn't need to keep these things secret.
Ironically, the things that Julian taught Nick allowed him to see how Julian was violating the very things that he was preaching.
Nick also knew something else.
He knew that Julian would get rid of him as soon as his power approached Julian's.
Julian and Nick were allies, but only as long as Nick couldn't pose a danger to Julian.
Nick knew that.
He knew that they would become enemies in the future.
And because of that, Nick did not tell Julian about the two things he had noticed.
